DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract.) Funds are requested to enable scientists to attend the sixth biannual Gordon Research Conference on Mammalian DNA Repair, to be held in Ventura, California, February 2 - 7, 1997. The invited speakers are experts in the fields of DNA repair and related cellular processes (e.g., DNA replication, transcription, cell cycle control and apoptosis). Besides providing a forum for these experts to present their most recent results and ideas, the Conference will facilitate wide-ranging interactions among all attendees through plenary discussion sessions and poster presentations. The Conference is normally oversubscribed, with attendance limited to 135 participants. The attendees will be chosen globally from universities, research institutes, and government and industrial research labs. Every effort will be made to select a well-balanced mix of individuals ranging from leaders in mammalian DNA repair to students and younger scientists new to the field. The 1997 Conference differs from previous ones, in that it will be broader in scope. This decision reflects the recent realization that DNA repair mechanisms constitute one of several cellular homeostatic processes -- others include DNA replication, transcription and cell cycle control -- that form an integrated stress-response network. Moreover, insight into DNA repair mechanisms is converging rapidly from studying diverse organisms; hence knowledge gleaned from simpler systems may aid in understanding mammalian mechanisms. In brief, the Conference will begin with a keynote address tracing the meteoric development of the mammalian DNA repair field. This will be followed by eight sessions including the effects of damage on DNA structure and the principles governing its recognition by repair proteins, basic repair mechanisms (nucleotide and base excision repair, transcription-coupled repair, mismatch repair, recombination repair), genomic surveillance machinery (e.g. cell cycle controls, apoptosis, and ATM, FAC, and BLM proteins), reactive oxygen damage and human degenerative diseases (e.g. mitochondrial diseases and aging), and the relationship between DNA repair, biological diversity and environmental genotoxicity (e.g. LTV repair in plankton, plants, and amphibians). One entire session will be devoted to poster presentations to afford young investigators an opportunity to describe their results. In summary, this Conference will examine mammalian DNA repair as a key component of the genomic surveillance machinery crucial to the overall integrity and function of higher organisms. Recent discoveries have catapulted DNA repair into a pivotal position in fundamental studies of oncology, aging, environmental health, and developmental biology.